Thursday, November 04, 2010

Kaveri Turbofan Passes Tests Outside Moscow

The K-9 model of India's Kaveri turbofan jet engine has successfully completed one phase of ground aqnd flight tests on an Ilyushin-76 platform at the Gromov Flight Research Institute (GFRI) in Moscow. A second phase of tests is currently in progress. All preliminary test points are said to have been met, though a final report is yet to be out. More details later this evening.

only aft flight worthiness ,kaveri will be integrated to tejas for futher flight tests ,flight worthiness is obtained for kaveri only aft passing the phase 2 of gnd tests (for which report is not yet submitted).

Congratulations are due, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. This is just the first step of a long process. The Kaveri will require years of flight testing before it is ready for integration with the Tejas. Then there is the matter of testing and certifying it on the Tejas itself.

And finally, for those dreaming about Tejas mk.2 and AMCA, this is only the 'mk.1' version of Kaveri with 81kN thrust designed for the Tejas mk.1. Developing a mk.2 version will take well beyond 2020.

In other words, there really isn't much that can be done with this engine now.